Newsbriefs

Grand Coulee Police Chief Mel Hunt told the city council last Tuesday that his officers had handled nearly 1,600 calls during 2011. It was an increase of about 8 percent over the prior year.

Rick Paris, fire chief of Grand Coulee, reported to the city council last Tuesday that his department answered 345 ambulance calls and 49 fire calls in 2011. He said the fire calls represented an increase of 21 over the previous year. Paris said a number of the fire responses were due to alarms going off and firefighters responding to check the alarms.

Disease alert

downgraded

The Grant County Health District has downgraded the whooping cough outbreak of 2010-11, due to declining incidents of the disease.

During 2011, some 29 cases of whooping cough had been reported in Grant County. In the course of a 16-month period, 57 cases including one infant death were reported in the county. In the five years previous to 2010, only 1-4 cases a year were reported in the county.

The Grant County Health District has a five-year plan to reduce whooping cough incidence.

Four in

wreck

A one-car rollover injury accident on Gold Lake Road is being investigated by Colville Tribal Police, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The accident occurred about 4 a.m. Monday, with EMS personnel and police responding.

Police said four people were in the vehicle when it rolled over and that those with injuries were taken to a hospital for treatment.

One source said that one of the accident victims was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, and the extent of injuries are all unknown at this time, the tribal spokesperson stated.

Cover up your trash, or else

Grant County residents are warned that an “unsecured load ordinance” is in effect at the Delano Regional Transfer Station and all Grant County Solid Waste landfills.

Electric City Mayor Jerry Sands said Tuesday that Grant County officials have trained employees at the Delano Transfer Station on making an extra charge on unsecured loads.

“Our computer at the transfer station has been programmed to make a $5 extra charge for cars and a $15 extra charge for unsecured loads,” Sands stated.

The charge will be made if loads are not either covered with a tarp, enclosed in a vehicle or otherwise tied down.

“This all came about because of debris along the roadways leading to dump sites,” Sands said.

Garbage bags will be considered an unsecured load if they are not covered with a tarp, a county press release stated.